


sweetheart, snowdrops are in bloom

by the_milliners_rook



Series: The Thaw [2]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Crack, F/M, Future Fic, I Don't Even Know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 12:15:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7757485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_milliners_rook/pseuds/the_milliners_rook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s so unfair that Karin has a crush on his older self, and he has to have a crush — no, not a <i>crush</i> — feel <i>flustered</i> by her when she’s taller than him, his heartbeat racing irrationally even now. </p><p>Why is it that they can never get it right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	sweetheart, snowdrops are in bloom

Toushirou knows he’s in trouble when Karin turns sixteen.

 _Oh no_ , Toushirou thinks, blanching as his cheeks start to flush. _No._

 _This could not be happening_.

It feels like all the air has been knocked out of him, leaving him winded at the sight of her, smiling and radiant as a goddess, and he wonders how he’s never seen her like this before.

This couldn’t possibly be happening, and _yet_ —

“You okay?” Karin asks, peering at him curiously, and he doesn’t know what to blame — the trick of the light, his lizard stupid brain, the way her lashes frame her eyes. Or the sudden lack of oxygen since he stopped breathing ever since Karin leaned in close enough for him to count her eyelashes, and he stays exactly where he stand, still as can be. “You’re looking kind of… _red_.”

Toushirou swallows. “It’s nothing.”

He could blame the weather, he supposes. It’s not too late for that. May has never particularly agreed with him, but he tolerates it because it’s Karin’s birthday and he’s here for her.

“Alright,” Karin shrugs, drawing back, and seemingly letting the matter to, much to Toushirou’s relief. He’s always appreciated her nonchalance, truth be told.

He exhales, the rush of air heavier than he expected.

_Oh, shit._

He’s more affected by this newfound attraction than he thought. This cannot be good.

“It’s funny,” Karin drawls, and her eyes flash with fondness as she regards him. Captivating him even as he sinks more and more into the depths of her beauty. “If I didn’t know better, I’d almost say you were…”

His mouth goes dry.

“Oh _fuck_ ,” Karin’s mouth drops, lips full and rose red, and in slow motion, Toushirou watches her eye widen, a gleam of steel blue as the dots connect. “You _are_ , aren’t you?”

“What?” Defensive, all to prepared to deny whatever that she’s about to say, Toushirou grits his teeth, and tries to cool his face by willpower alone. If he wills it, ice will dust over his cheekbones, and he can blame it on the cold, rather than something as stupid as a —

“ _Blushing,_ ” Karin declares, triumphant. Relishing the moment with a sharp smirk, Toushirou is helplessly drawn to noticing the sweetly seductive curl of her mouth. “Wow.”

“I am not!” Toushirou denies it, vehemently, flaring up much to his detriment. “I’m just — very happy to see you again!”

Karin snorts. Tries to hide her smile, and it makes her unbelievably cute. He wants to scream in frustration.

He can’t believe he has to deal with thoughts like this. They’re so _distracting!_

“What did you say to me back then?” Karin teases, back to smirking, and lording it over him, and it shouldn’t make him already more flustered than he already is, and _yet._ “Never mind, I remember. It’s okay to have a crush on me, Toushirou.”

“But I _don’t!_ ” Toushirou bursts out; his cheeks blazing as Karin merely arches her brow, sceptical. Even if he _did_ , which he _doesn’t_ , he’s far too stubborn to admit it _now_ , of all things. “Dammit, Karin, I don’t have a crush on you!”

It’s shock!

He’s in shock and has yet to accustom to her face — that must be _it!_

He’s witnessed Karin in a number of guises. He’s seen her in her school uniform, and ripped jeans. He’s seen her with her shorts and mud scraped knees. He’s seen her in pyjamas and dressed for a party. So why — _why_ is this so different from before?

“Alright, alright,” Karin agrees easily, _too_ complacent, and Toushirou raises his guard, finding it suspicious that she yields so quickly. She shrugs, and exhales. “Whatever you say.”

The fact that she sounds like she doesn’t believe it makes the condescension even _worse._

“How about I turn into my future self right now?” Toushirou blurts, _convinced_ that he was not nearly as bad as her when it came to teasing Karin. He raises his voice. “How’d you like _that?”_

“You’d be my favourite birthday present _ever,”_ Karin says, a dreamy look in her eyes, momentarily distracted, like she hadn’t even realized that she’d said that out loud. She gasps the second she does, eyes widening before she shakes her head, embarrassed. Her cheeks flush, and there’s a bitter victory in that. “I mean —”

It’s so unfair that Karin has a crush on his older self, and he has to have a crush — no, not a _crush_ — feel _flustered_ by her when she’s taller than him, his heartbeat racing irrationally even now. Why is it that they can never get it right?

“Too bad,” Toushirou flatly says, glowering just a little. He’s not jealous.

Absolutely _not_.

“Toushirou,” Karin says, sounding exasperated as she stresses his name. Her hands fall to her hips, and she looks at him. “This is ridiculous.”

And all of a sudden she bursts into laughter, stunning him once more by how adorable she is, radiant in her happiness.

“You should see the look on your face,” Karin says, an affectionate smile adorned on her face.

“W-what?” And he hates-hates- _hates_ how his cheeks are suffusing with hot colour once more.

“I just wanted to mess with you a bit,” Karin grins, turning fiendish, and Toushirou squawks. “I mean, I’d have been flattered if you had, you know? But. We had a deal, remember? Future’s not here yet.”

 _It might as well be_ , Toushirou’s thoughts think traitorously, as he huffs out his displeasure and rolls his eyes. Three years are going pass quickly in a blink of an eye, and yet, somehow, it’ll be so torturously slow.

“Right. Of course.”

 _I’ll be way more gorgeous than you ever were_ , Karin had said, taunting.

He’s not doomed _yet._

“Still,” Karin muses, considering him with mirth in her eyes. “If you’re like this when I’m sixteen, I bet your jaw is going to hit the floor when I turn _nineteen._ ”

Toushirou snorts, back in his element. He recognizes a challenge when he sees one. “No promises, Karin.”

“You say that now,” Karin smirks, but she looks at him knowingly, entertained by the possibility. “But we’ll see who’s laughing at the end.”

Matsumoto, probably.

“Who’s doomed _most_ , you mean,” Toushirou corrects, and that earns him a laugh, and Toushirou is again temporarily struck speechless by just how pretty she’s become, how beautiful she is going to be.

“Yeah, that,” Karin says, slinging her arm over his shoulder. Her smile tells him that she knows his every secret. “We’re going to be so hot. It’ll be fun!”

“I can’t wait,” Toushirou deadpans, and smiles, softening at the excitement in her sparkling eyes. He’s already infected by her exuberance.

It’s him.

He knows it’ll be _him_. He can _just_ _tell_.

If he’s in trouble now, then it’s going to be so much _worse_ when the future knocks all sense and rationality out of him and she becomes even more gorgeous than he could possibly imagine.

In the meantime, she’ll have the upper hand rendering him speechless whenever she sends a slightly crooked smile in his direction, and he’ll be forced to admit, that maybe he _does_ have a crush on her after all.

Like hell he’d say something like that out loud, though.

And _yet_ —

Karin grins at him, and Toushirou _knows_ —

He is in _so much trouble._


End file.
